LotR 100 - Flight from Moria (1)

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First play of Flight from Moria.

Initial hand:

  • Gandalf
  • Henamarth Riversong
  • Longbeard Orc Slayer
  • Gloin
  • Bifur
  • Cram

Initial encounter: New Devilry, since Stage 1 discard and reveal Undisturbed Bones for no effect. A Presence in the Dark goes to Victory, Heading Down is up next.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Erebor Hammersmith.
  2. Planning: play Henamarth, scry Crumbling Ruin. Play Cram on Thorin.
  3. Quest: Thorin and Ori, draw Crumbling Ruin, exhaust Dain. Net +5 Progress which clears Heading Down.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 32.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 5, draw Dwarven Tomb.
  2. Planning: Scry New Devilry. Play Longbeard.
  3. Quest: Thorin, Ori, and Longbeard for 8, draw New Devilry, shuffle and redraw Heading Up.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 5, draw Durin's Song and Kili.
  2. Planning: Scry Massing in the Deed, will need to keep another Ally ready just in case. Play Erebor Hammersmith.
  3. Quest: Thorin, Ori, and Erebor for 9 Will, draw Massing in Deed and New Devilry, will take the shuffle and draw Escape from Darkness. Dang. Also, Threat 34.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 35.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 7, draw Miner of the Iron Hills and Dori.
  2. Planning: Scry Pundered Armory. Play Gloin, 2 R back on Thorin.
  3. Quest: Thorin and Ori for 7 Will, draw Plundered Armory for net +1.
  4. Travel: Plundered Armory.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none. Switch Stage card to Narrow Paths.
  7. Refresh: Threat 36.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 10, draw Kili and Narvi's Belt.
  2. Planning: Scry Goblin Spearman. Play Narvi's Belt on Thorin. Play Kili to find Fili.
  3. Quest: Technically, because Narrow Paths was revealed during the previous Combat phase, the When Revealed from last turn should not apply to this turn. Hence, quest Thorin, Ori, Gloin, Fili, and Kili for 14, draw Goblin Swordsman net 9 to clear Plundered Armory and put Progress on Narrow Paths. Search Encounter deck for Abandoned Tools. A Wrong Turn comes up next, draw Orc Drummer.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Goblin Swordsman.
  6. Combat: Longbeard defends against Goblin Swordsman, shadow Shadow of Fear for no effect, Longbeard takes 1 hit. Shuffle Stage deck, draw A Wrong Turn again, draw Chance Encounter to put Goblin Swordsman back into play and engaged. Exhaust Dain to acquire Abandoned Tools.
  7. Refresh: Threat 37.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 9, draw Erebor Hammersmith and Miner of the Iron Hills.
  2. Planning: Scry Great Cave Troll. Play Dori.
  3. Quest: Thorin, Ori, Gloin, Fili, Kili for 14 Will, draw Great Cave Troll for 9 Threat, clear A Wrong Turn. The next Stage is Blocked by Shadow which I think will just go right to the bottom of the Staging deck, which results in Heading Down getting shuffled back in. No big deal.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Goblin Swordsman.
  6. Combat: Longbeard defend, shadow Goblin Archer for no effect, Longbeard takes another hit. Dain, Erebor, and Dori kill Goblin Swordsman.
  7. Refresh: Threat 38.

Round 7

  1. Resource: 10, draw Longbeard Map-Maker and Gandalf.
  2. Planning: Scry Goblin Spearman. Play Gandalf, Threat 33. Play Cram on Thorin, exhaust Narvi's Belt to play Erebor Hammersmith.
  3. Quest: Thorin, Ori, and Gloin for 10 Will, draw Goblin Spearman for +1 P.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Engage Great Cave Troll, Goblin Spearman.
  6. Combat: Gandalf defends Great Cave Troll, shadow Dark and Dreadful for 1 hit to Gandalf, +7 Attack, Gandalf is dead. Erebor Hammersmith defends against Goblin Spearman, shadow Stray Goblin for +1 Attack, 2 hits on Erebor. Discard Cram to ready Thorin, attack Great Cave Troll with total 15 to kill it.
  7. Refresh: Threat 34.

Round 8

  1. Resource: 7, draw Untroubled by Darkness and again.
  2. Planning: Scry Shadow of Fear.
  3. Quest: Thorin, Ori, Gloin, Erebor (1), Fili, Kili for 16 Will, draw Shadow of Fear and attach to Dain. Total Threat is 10, net +6 which clears Heading Up. Next staging card is Hasty Council which demands putting all copies of A Foe Beyond from the discard pile shuffled into the encounter deck. Since I have none, I am very lucky this time. I need to win this scenario very soon now, or it's going to get me. The staging cards are Heading Down and Blocked by Shadow. I'll put Heading Down at the bottom, which leaves Blocked by Shadow, which also goes to the bottom, which reveals Escape from Darkness. It will take 4 rounds to clear this card, I can do this with the number of allies I have in play, I don't need to make progres, just not to threat out.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Erebor defends Goblin Spearman, shadow Dark and Dreadful, which kills Erebor. Longbeard and Dori kill Goblin Spearman.
  7. Refresh: Threat 35.

Round 9

  1. Resource: 11, draw Sneak Attack and Cram.
  2. Planning: Scry Fouled Well. Detach Abandoned Tools to Staging from Dain. Play Miner of the Iron Hills to get rid of Shadow of Fear. Exhaust Ori to claim Abandoned Tools, this will cost me an extra round…except, Cram on Ori.
  3. Quest: Thorin, exhaust lots, discard Cram to place Progress on Escape from Darkness. Draw Fouled Well.
  4. Travel: Fouled Well, discard Bifur.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 36.

Round 10

  1. Resource: 13, draw Miner of the Iron Hills and Unexpected Courage.
  2. Planning: Scry Goblin Spearman. Play Unexpected Courage on Ori.
  3. Quest: Thorin, Ori, Gloin, Fili, Kili, Miner of the Iron Hills for 17 Will, draw Goblin Spearman, Unexpected Courage to refresh Ori, 1 P on Escape from Darkness. Two more turns…
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Goblin Spearman.
  6. Combat: Erebor defends, shadow A Foe Beyond Erebor is done for, Longbeard and Dori take out Goblin Spearman.
  7. Refresh: Threat 37.

Round 11

  1. Resource: 15, draw King Under the Mountain and Erebor Record Keeper.
  2. Planning: Scry Plundered Armory. Play King Under the Mountain on Dain, draw Longbeard Map-Maker and Fili, keep Longbeard (more hit points). Play Longbeard Map-Maker and Miner of the Iron Hills.
  3. Quest: All for 12 Will, draw Plundered Armory and clear Fouled Well with +6 Progress. Unexpected Courage to refesh Ori and exhaust to add 1 P to Escape from Darkness.
  4. Travel: Plundered Armory.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 38.

Round 12

  1. Resource: 14, draw Longbeard Orc Slayer and Narvi's Belt.
  2. Planning: Scry Goblin Spearman. Play Longbeard Orc Slayer to put 1 hit on Orc Drummer which sends that bad boy to the discard pile. Exhaust Ori to place 1 P on Escape from Darkness for the win.

AAR

This was a long game! It was also far easier than I thought it would be given it's rated much more difficult than either Into the Pit or The Seventh Level. It is sort of fitting that this marks my 100th play of the game though.

In hindsight, I could have won this probably on Round 9 or 10 had Ori picked up Abandoned Tools instead of Dain, given I drew and attached Unexpected Courage right after that. I could have been using Unexpected Courage to refresh and place as well (I'm pretty sure this is legal, it doesn't say anything about when Progress can be placed on the stage).

It's also a bit hard to believe I won this on my first play.

Khazad-dum and the Deeds of Dwarves

Here's the deck which did the deed. It's the same deck which beat The Seventh Level, and with Protector of Lorien swapped for Forest Snare beat Into the Pit.

Hero (3)

Ally (28)

Attachment (11)

Event (12)

3 Heroes, 51 Cards, Cards up to On the Doorstep.

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

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What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

  • Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
  • Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
  • Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
  • Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
  • Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
  • Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
  • Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
  • Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.